Jen Pawol made baseball history on Saturday by becoming the first woman to umpire an MLB regular-season game, taking the post at first base during Saturday’s matchup between the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves. The game is the first of a doubleheader the two teams will play.
After the top of the first inning, Braves rookie Hurston Waldrep became a part of the story as the first pitcher to be checked for illegal substances when he came off the field and walked toward the Atlanta dugout.
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Waldrep retired the Marlins in order in the first, striking out Xavier Edwards and Kyle Stowers with his splitter before getting Agustín Ramírez to ground out. He got through the frame with 13 pitches, eight of them thrown for strikes.
As he walked toward the dugout, Pawol stopped Waldrep for a routine check of his glove and right hand for anything extra that may have aided in grip on the baseball. Nothing was amiss, and Waldrep went to the bench while Pawol returned to her position at first base.
Pawol, 48, is set to umpire in all three games of the Marlins-Braves series this weekend. After umpiring first base for the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, she’ll be at third base for the nightcap. And on Sunday, Pawol will call balls and strikes behind home plate.
Previously, she has called MLB spring training games during the past two seasons, the first woman to do so since Ria Cortesio in 2007. Pawol is MLB’s first female umpire following the NBA breaking that gender barrier with Violet Palmer in 1997 and Sarah Thomas officiating an NFL game in 2015. In 2022, Stéphanie Frappart became the first woman to referee a men’s World Cup game between Germany and Costa Rica.
Pawol became the seventh woman to officiate a minor-league game after graduating from Minor League Baseball’s umpire camp in 2016. Her cap and mask from that game are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In 2023, she was promoted to Triple-A games. Altogether, she umpired over 1,200 minor-league games before making her MLB debut.
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